Tag Archive: Flight QSF


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Good morning, Snippetteers! — this week’s Snippet is going to have to do double duty, I’m afraid, since I’m going to be away at GRL next weekend. But here’s a bit from STONE COLD, in which Terry has just arrived home after a long day at the tattoo parlor, and after spotting his most recent ex canoodling on a park bench with his ex’s new boyfriend. (Bryce Newhouse and Lasair Faol, from BLOWING SMOKE, for those of you keeping score at home.) The two of them are in the kitchen, Terry having just brought home Thai food from his favorite take-out restaurant.

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Terry shook his head and looked away, leaning against the counter and staring at the gray stone between the heels of his hands. “Would you quit being so fucking perfect?”

Maelduin had hoped for something that would make him feel less confused, rather than more. “If I am perfect, why would you want me to be less so?”

Terry had beautiful eyes, even when he was regarding Maelduin with an easy-to-read you make as much sense as an inebriated Sibyl expression. “Because then your leaving wouldn’t suck quite so badly.”

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And a few links to tide you over for the next couple of weeks *winks*

Rainbow Snippets on Facebook, your home for other LGBTQIA+ goodies — https://www.facebook.com/groups/RainbowSnippets/

My Amazon author page, where you can find ALL the SoulShares, plus WOLF, BECOMING, A SUMMER’S DAY, the German edition of HARD AS STONE, and both Queer Sci Fi flash fiction anthologies — http://ow.ly/YNcc305dcJn

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Hello, Snippetteers! — sorry to be so late this weekend, but I was off at the Renaissance Festival yesterday, and came home too tired to do anything but make the better acquaintance of my pillow!

I’m afraid I’ve gone to seven sentences again — but once again, I think you’ll understand why when you read the snippet. This scene involves Lasair Faol and Bryce Newhouse, the SoulShares introduced in BLOWING SMOKE; they normally live in Greenwich Village, but they’re currently in Washington, D.C. with the other Fae and humans of Purgatory to help out with a growing problem with the way the Fae Realm and the human world interact. Which is what they’ve been discussing just before this excerpt; the first speaker is Lasair.

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“You fret too much, sumiúl, over things you cannot help.”

“Only because you gave me the soul that makes me give a damn.” Bryce’s eyes watered, stung.

“Would you give it back, if you could?”

The question was like cold water flung over him; Bryce couldn’t breathe with the shock of it. He’d been stupid enough to try to reject Lasair’s gift, over and over again; he still wanted to curl up and die with the shame of it, when he remembered how one of his rejections had driven his Fae lover to try to flee back to the Realm. There was nothing inevitable about a SoulShare joining, and he’d damn near thrown the other half of his soul away.

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For any of you who are going to be at Gaylaxicon this coming weekend (October 7-9), please stop by the Queer Sci Fi table in the vendor room and say hello!

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And a few links, for your continued reading pleasure:

Rainbow Snippets on Facebook, for more LGBTQIA+ goodies — https://www.facebook.com/groups/RainbowSnippets/

BLOWING SMOKE (SoulShares #5), Lasair and Bryce’s whole story — http://ow.ly/Xava304M0tD

A SUMMER’S DAY — Shakespearean m/m romance anthology, and a benefit for the It Gets Better Project (my short story, “Deeper Than Did Ever Plummet Sound,” kicks it off) — http://ow.ly/M9Kp304M0jw

FLIGHT — Queer Sci Fi’s third annual flash fiction contest, a fundraiser for the Queer Sci Fi blog (my “Life/Flight” leads it off) — http://ow.ly/PDyp304M0mY

Hello, Snippetteers! It’s been a seriously wet wek around here — the suburb just to the north of us got 10 inches of rain in one storm the other night, and I came way too close to finding out if VWs actually float…

All I’m going to say about this week’s Snippet is that it’s a memory sequence from STONE COLD, the WIP, taking place while Terry’s on the bus to his favorite Thai take-out place. And Maelduin’s waiting for him back at his apartment.

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“Hey. You okay?”

The words washed over Terry without registering. Nothing was registering, really. He wasn’t sure how he’d gotten to the sidewalk outside the Duplex, or why he’d come there in the first place. He sat on his hard-shell suitcase, the only one he’d felt like taking the time to pack — maybe Bryce would send the rest of his stuff along to wherever he found to crash, maybe not. He wasn’t even sure what was in the suitcase.

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And some links for you —

Rainbow Snippets, your home for LGBTQIA+ goodness on Facebook — https://www.facebook.com/groups/RainbowSnippets/

ZWISCHEN ZWEI WELTEN, the German-language edition of HARD AS STONE (SoulShares #1), currently on pre-order status, release date November 1 — http://ow.ly/JEGz304wWiy

A SUMMER’S DAY, an anthology of Shakespearean-based stories with an m/m twist, benefitting the It Gets Better Project — http://ow.ly/9FdK304wWai

FLIGHT, a flash fiction anthology, 300-word speculative fiction stories, every flavor of fantasy, science fiction, and other spec fic from all over the LGBTQIA+ spectrum, proceeds to benefit the Queer Sci Fi blog — http://ow.ly/S6XJ304wWcf

Oh, and come see me at the QSF table at Gaylaxicon, the World LGBTQ Fantasy and Science Fiction Convention, October 7-9 in Minneapolis — http://www.gaylaxicon2016.org/

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The 2016 Queer Sci Fi Flash Fiction anthology, “Flight”, is here, and I have a story in it! It’s a really cool concept:

A 300-word story should be easy, right? Many of our entrants say it’s the hardest thing they’ve ever written.

Queer Sci Fi’s Annual Flash Fiction Contest challenges authors to write a complete LGBTQ speculative fiction micro-story on a specific theme. “Flight” leaves much for the authors to interpret—winged creatures, flight and space vehicles, or fleeing from dire circumstances.

Some astonishing stories were submitted—from horrific, bloodcurdling pieces to sweet, contemplative ones—and all LGBTQ speculative fiction. The stories in this anthology include AI’s and angels, winged lions and wayward aliens. Smart, snappy slice of life pieces written for entertainment or for social commentary. Join us for brief and often surprising trips into 110 speculative fiction authors’ minds.

The book us available in eBook form (4.99), and will soon be available in paperback with b/w illustrations inside (12.99) and in a special collector’s edition with color illustrations (24.99).


Buy Links

Amazon eBook | Kobo | All Romance | Goodreads


Excerpt

Funny. Of all the places she and Torvald could have chosen to build their dream home, they ended up with such a good view of Fenixport from the porch. Lucy rocked in her grandmother’s wicker chair in the lilac twilight, her eyes on the horizon, her heart seeing the plascrete bunker and the tower beyond it.

Not how she’d planned to say goodbye. Or to meet the end of everything. But the end of everything wasn’t something you planned for.

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Hello, Snippetteers! — real life has had plans for me this week, plans that didn’t involve very much writing, so I thought I’d revisit “Wolf, Becoming,” my Russian shape-shifter novella from Dreamspinner. The setup for this snippet is that Volyk, a wolf with the ability to become human under certain limited circumstances, has just found Ilya (the “male” in this snippet) lying in the snow atop a frozen river; Volyk has just run off Ilya’s two older brothers, who had beaten him with an axe handle and were in the process of chopping a hole in the ice to dump Ilya in the river until Volyk intervened.

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The male’s eyes opened; his gaze wandered, unseeing, then fell on Volyk. Pale gray eyes widened, their lashes already burdened with snow. “A cleaner death than my brothers meant for me,” he murmured. “Bol’shoye spasibo.”

Volyk shook his head. I am not your death, he wanted to say. But he could smell death lurking too near the human, see it in the way the beautiful eyes stopped noticing him, the gray gaze wandered past him to contemplate something far off, in a place where nothing was.

I will not let you die.

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As usual, a few links for you —

Rainbow Snippets, your home for LGBTQIA+ goodness on Facebook:

WOLF, BECOMING on Amazon: http://ow.ly/IuP7304j9ZP
WOLF, BECOMING on Dreamspinner: https://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/books/wolf-becoming-by-rory-ni-coileain-3652-b

FLIGHT: Queer Sci Fi’s Third Annual Flash Fiction Contest — comes out September 21, available for preorder now, and my “life/flight” was chosen to kick it off! http://ow.ly/y57J304jafi

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At long last, all in one place — all of Rory’s books, in all formats, and I PROMISE to keep it updated!

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HARD AS STONE (SoulShares #1)

Amazon (Kindle): http://ow.ly/6puW301xGCC
ARe: http://ow.ly/FIC6302KMzm
Riverdale Avenue Books (.epub, .mobi or .pdf): http://ow.ly/rZb1301xJtu
Amazon (paperback): http://ow.ly/CV9n301xGEO

GALE FORCE (SoulShares #2)

Amazon (Kindle): http://ow.ly/BfqJ301xIpz
ARe: http://ow.ly/rZn3302KMMx
Riverdale Avenue Books (.epub, .mobi or .pdf): http://ow.ly/HPmO301xJwL
Amazon (paperback): http://ow.ly/qPJs301xItz

DEEP PLUNGE (SoulShares #3)

Amazon (Kindle): http://ow.ly/vSYn301xI4p
ARe: http://ow.ly/CSAO302KMVZ
Riverdale Avenue Books (.epub, .mobi or .pdf): http://ow.ly/8CW7301xJyQ
Amazon (paperback): http://ow.ly/OH4q301xI7g

FIRESTORM (SoulShares #4)

Amazon (Kindle): http://ow.ly/QoMW301xIcV
ARe: http://ow.ly/8OSi302KMYu
Riverdale Avenue Books (.epub, .mobi or .pdf): http://ow.ly/IaeV301xJC5
Amazon (paperback): http://ow.ly/K3bw301xIhU

BLOWING SMOKE (SoulShares #5)

Amazon (Kindle): http://ow.ly/hFNQ301xIwo
ARe: http://ow.ly/2MD8302KN0h
Riverdale Avenue Books (.epub, .mobi or .pdf): http://ow.ly/Wgjo301xJHs
Amazon (paperback): http://ow.ly/7h3n301xIEr

MANTLED IN MIST (SoulShares #6)

Amazon (Kindle): http://ow.ly/V9fx301xIJI
ARe: http://ow.ly/GUz3302KN4f
Riverdale Avenue Books (.epub, .mobi or .pdf): http://ow.ly/Sck1301xJKz
Amazon (paperback): http://ow.ly/yGJl301xINr

UNDERTOW (SoulShares #7)

Amazon (Kindle): http://ow.ly/ZE37302KNmU
ARe: http://ow.ly/TEMO302KNel
Riverdale Avenue Books (.epub, .mobi or .pdf): http://ow.ly/6MoS302KNu9
Amazon (paperback): http://ow.ly/ufir302KNoM

Coming in 2017: STONE COLD (SoulShares #8) and BACK DOOR INTO PURGATORY (SoulShares #9 and the end of the series)

WOLF, BECOMING (Russian wolf shapeshifter novella)

Amazon (Kindle only): http://ow.ly/US2D301xGzj
ARe: http://ow.ly/UbrY302KNiD
Dreamspinner Press (.epub. .mobi, or .pdf): http://ow.ly/ItKU301xITW

DISCOVERY: QSF’s Second Annual Flash Fiction Contest – something completely different, my contribution to a speculative flash fiction (300 words) anthology

Amazon (Kindle): http://ow.ly/p9xr302KO65
Amazon (paperback): http://ow.ly/BnKW302KO7h

FLIGHT: QSF’s Third Annual Flash Fiction Contest – coming Fall of 2016

Coming in August 2016:

A SUMMER’S DAY – an m/m anthology, Shakespeare with a twist – benefitting the It Gets Better project

And, finally —

FREE READ – “Obsidian”http://ow.ly/yBTa301xNqI

Oh, and come find me on Facebook ( https://www.facebook.com/Soulshares/ ) and Twitter (@RoryNi)!